The Road not Taken
by drgemini24
Summary: written aeons before the real tRnT aired. Set in season 8, Sam accidentally slips into an Alternate Universe, and subsequently sees a close friend in a new light, which makes her reconsider her engagement to Pete. SD


Sam's eyes flickered open and she found herself in the Infirmary, but she was also aware of a dull ache at the base of her spine.

She groaned in discomfort and attracted the attention of a startlingly familiar Doctor, who moved into focus and asked, "Colonel Carter, how are you feeling?"

Sam knew that voice but it was not possible... She turned her head towards the source and her eyes widened in surprise on seeing Fraiser. Her Air Force training kicked in and she tried to get up, but found that she was unable to do so in sufficient time.

Fraiser attempted to gently ease her back, but Sam shrugged her off, saying vehemently, "This must be some sort of Goa'uld trick, or the Gamekeeper has found us again! You can't be real. You died last year on 666, and even if by some chance you survived somehow, you always called me Sam!"

She laid back and stared at the ceiling, tears rolling down the sides of her face, as Fraiser looked on, surprised to say the least.

Moments later, she heard Jack's voice and she looked in his direction. Their eyes met and Jack quietly asked Fraiser, "How's the Colonel doing?"

Fraiser replied, "She's weak and confused, but the strange thing is that she has Naquadah in her blood."

He raised an eyebrow in surprise and remarked, "A Goa'uld?!"

She shook her head and replied, "No Sir, no symbiote was detected, but she has protein markers in her blood, which suggests that she's a former host. Apart from that, this lady is Doctor Carter."

Sam watched the exchange, bewildered as Santa at Kwanza, and asked, "General?"

He looked at her again and remarked, "Excuse me?!"

Her confusion grew before she asked, agitated, "Where am I? This can't be the SGC. What's going on?"

He raised an eyebrow and said to himself, a smug smile on his face, "General..."

Fraiser approached her and said, "Colonel, it's a very long story, but you will be briefed on it, I promise, but you have to get well first. I'm going to give you a sedative."

Sam was too weak to fight, so Fraiser injected her and within minutes, the Astrophysicist was unconscious.

The following day, Hammond, Jack, Teal'c and Daniel sat at the briefing table. Sam walked in, escorted by Fraiser, and was surprised to see Hammond, so she saluted and said,

"Sir, nice to see you again - how is Homeworld Security?"

Hammond, looking a little confused, returned the salute and replied, "Please be seated, Colonel."

She sat down and wondered why on Earth everyone was staring at her. She looked at them and asked, bemused, "What?! You look like you haven't seen me before! What's going on?"

Jack was about to say something when Teal'c jumped in, summing up everyone's collective view, albeit in his unique way, "You are not Samantha Carter."

Jack glared at him, and Daniel piped up, "Well, not... not our Samantha."

She stared at Daniel in disbelief and exclaimed, "What?! Don't tell me I'm a friggin' robot!"

Jack remarked, "Oh... far from it, Colonel."

Hammond said, "What is the last thing you remember?"

"I was on P3X-922 with Daniel, Teal'c, and SG-3. Why?"

Hammond glanced at Jack, who glanced at Daniel, who in turn glanced at Teal'c, who said emotionlessly, "You were discovered unconscious in the vicinity of a Quantum Mirror on P3X-922."

She closed her eyes briefly and exclaimed, "I'm in an Alternate Universe?!"

Daniel added, "Well... you're from the Alternate Universe, from our perspective."

When she eventually got accustomed to the idea, she asked with a smile, "So, where am I?"

Teal'c replied, "You are seated opposite DanielJackson."

Jack chuckled before Daniel answered her, "It could be too much for you to take, Air Force Officer as you are."

"I'm... I mean, she's dead?"

"No, not at all... she's just not... well, I suppose you will have to meet her."

At that moment, a long-haired version of herself strolled in, dressed in fatigues and noticeably pregnant.

The two Sams stared at each other in silent surprise, as Jack remarked, "Doctor Carter, meet Colonel Carter."

Everyone settled down, and they compared notes on the two Universes.

When Hammond left to take a call, Jack said, "Well, I'm a divorced Colonel, and I have a son called Charlie, who's at College doing Sports Science."

Sam raised her eyebrows in surprise, and said, "Our Gen... I mean, Jack's a Brigadier-General and has been head of the SGC since the start of this year. Sara left him eight years ago after Charlie shot himself accidentally."

Jack looked at her, shocked, as Teal'c asked, "What of I, ColonelCarter?"

"Well... you defected from Apophis' ranks seven years ago, and you're a member of SG-1. Your wife, Drey'auc, died a couple of years back, and your son, Ry'ac is married to Kar'yn, a female Jaffa. You have a relationship with Kar'yn's teacher, Ish'ta. You no longer have a symbiote, as the Tok'ra synthesised a drug called Tretonin, which you take on a regular basis to give you the same effects. You and Bra'tac have spear-headed an up-and-coming revolution in the Jaffa ranks, to fight for a free Jaffa nation and free yourselves from worshipping false gods."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow in surprise but said nothing. Jack said on his behalf, "His kid got married here too, but Drey'auc's not an ex-Jaffa yet."

Daniel then asked her, "So... am I... I mean, is my other self married to you?"

She stared at him in surprise and exclaimed, "What?! No!"

Her surprise grew further on seeing Samantha hold Daniel's hand, grin from ear to ear, and say, "Well... we're married."

Daniel blushed and added, "Five years."

When she regained the power of speech she stammered, "How... what... who..."

Jack chuckled and remarked, "I take it you and the other Daniel didn't get jiggy with it on Edora."

Sam exclaimed, "What?! Edora?! Jiggy?!"

She eventually calmed down and said, "No... our Jack was stuck on Edora for three months."

Samantha piped up, "Over here, Daniel and I were stuck on Edora for a year, when we went to look for Garren and Naitha, and a meteor slammed into the Stargate."

"Jack was stuck for three months."

"Particle-beam accelerator?"

"Yes."

"Well, I suppose it would've taken me that long had I been Earth-side, but we ended up being subjected to Rothman and Lee working it out."

Sam gestured towards her counterpart's hair, and said, "What's with the...?"

"I'm not military."

"Was Dad not in the Air Force?"

"Of course he was before he ended up with the Tok'ra, but Mark was the one that followed in his footsteps. I followed Mom into Astrophysics."

Sam lowered her eyes briefly before asking, "So, if you're with Daniel, what's happened to Pete? In my Universe, I'm engaged to him."

Samantha looked at her in surprise and exclaimed, "What?! You're engaged to Pete?! How could you do a thing like that?!"

Daniel touched her hand in an attempt to calm her down, as Sam replied, self-consciously twisting her engagement ring, "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh nothing... it's just that he doesn't seem like the type of guy you... I mean, I would go for. He's sweet but he's not long-term material."

Daniel glanced at his wife and exclaimed, smiling, "So, I'm a battered old sofa?!"

She punched him playfully and joked, "Perfect for...," but before she could reply, Jack interrupted, cringing, "Jesus, Sam, stop right there!"

Later on, in Samantha's office, the two Sams attempted to recalibrate the Quantum Mirror, which had been seriously albeit inexplicably damaged. As they worked, they chatted:

Samantha: So... how come you never got it on with Daniel?"

Sam: I don't know... can you pass me that screwdriver?"

Samantha: Yeah... so, why Pete then?"

Sam: I had a string of bad relationships, but then Mark set me up with Pete. He's sweet but I'm beginning to have doubts."

Samantha: I'll bet. But you're not that different from me, military and hair aside, and from what you've said, your Daniel's not that different from mine.

Sam: It's complicated.

Samantha: Dead?

Sam: Nope, although he did die twice but that's a long story. No, it's just that he was always emotionally unavailable in the early days what with the Sha're thing, but then after that I thought that maybe I loved Jack. Obviously I couldn't act on the feelings 'cos he's my CO, but there's always been something there between us.

Samantha: Jack?! He's like a real-life Captain Kirk! God no, he spaces out when you try to explain things peppered with the odd Astrophysical term! What do you see in him?

Sam: I don't know... he's a tactical genius, funny and a great friend.

Samantha: Sometimes friends are just meant to be friends.

Sam: So... how old's the bump?

Samantha: Half way through my second trimester.

Sam: Boy or girl?

Samantha: Both... they're twins.

Sam: Wow... you and Daniel got any others?

Samantha: We have a four year old called Melburn.

Sam: That's Daniel's Dad's name, isn't it?

Samantha: Yeah... he helped bring him into the world.

Sam: Woah... over in ours, Melburn and Claire died when he was eight.

Samantha: So... what's with your Goa'uld protein markers?

Sam: Six years back, I was host to a Tok'ra called Jolinar, but she gave her life to save me after an Ashrak tortured us.

Samantha: Ouch. In ours, Daniel was host to Jolinar.

Daniel knocked on the open door, and the two Astrophysicists turned towards him. He walked in and asked with a smile, "How're you getting on?"

Samantha replied, "Oh, just peachy -- this thing's as fried as Lee's brain on Monday mornings."

Sam added, "Well, it would be peachy if we could just get the control matrix back on-line."

She fiddled it with some more when suddenly the unit began to hum, the crystals lit up, and another Universe appeared in the mirror. Samantha whooped in delight at this, before Sam picked up the remote and fiddled with the settings.

Later, with Hammond, Jack, Teal'c and Fraiser present, Sam and Samantha eventually found the right Universe.

Ready to go home and dressed in her combat gear again, Sam bade farewell to everyone. She saluted Hammond and Jack, and hugged Teal'c, Samantha and Daniel. She also hugged Fraiser and finally got the chance to say goodbye to her friend.

With a last look at everyone's faces, she touched the mirror and disappeared.

Daniel, Teal'c and Reynolds found Sam looking confused in a storeroom on P3X-922.

Daniel asked her, "Sam, what happened?"

She blushed briefly before saying, "I think I crossed into another Universe."

They noticed the Quantum Mirror next to her, and briefly had a glimpse into the other Universe.

Daniel exclaimed in quiet realisation, "Oh."

She mentally shook herself before taking charge again, and saying, "Right, let's move out, men. Reynolds, get SG-3 ready to go home."

"Yes, Colonel."

Back at the SGC, after the customary medical check-up and debriefing, Sam sat alone in the Commissary, poking at her food, lost in thought.

Jack joined her, and remarked, "Overworked?"

She looked up and replied with a smile, "Sorry, just thinking about something."

"What happened on 922?"

"I already told you..."

"You're worried about something."

"I was pregnant and married to Daniel."

"What?!"

"...in the Alternate Universe."

"Yeah, I got that, but why should you be shocked at that?"

"Sir?"

"Come on, I'll admit Daniel's a much better man than Pete, and isn't stuff in those alternate dealies supposed to eventually work out, like that Goa'uld invasion when Daniel tripped through one of those mirrors?"

"Sir, it's complicated."

"What? How is choosing Daniel over Pete complicated? Daniel already understands you and your job, whereas Pete would never reach that level of understanding."

At Jack's house, SG-1 were fishing and finally getting some long-needed rest and recuperation. Even Teal'c joined in, despite disliking the idea of just sitting around, doing nothing.

Sam kept thinking about her Alternate self, and wondered whether Daniel and her could have a go at having a relationship.

As if reading her mind, Jack said, "Sam, we need more bait - there's a huge tank in my spare room. Daniel, you might wanna be a gentleman and help her with it."

The two scientists walked into the house, and Teal'c asked, "Will your plan succeed, Jack?"

Jack cast his rod and replied with an indifferent expression, "Well, if it doesn't, I owe Reynolds $20."


End file.
